Video- German police clash with anti-nuclear protesters

More than 20.000 people have protested a nuclear waste transport headed for a storage facility in the northern town of Gorleben.

At the main demonstration in Dannenberg people called for an end to nuclear energy and the immediate shutting down of all of Germany’s nuclear power plants.

The so-called Castor transport carries 150 tonnes of highly radioactive waste that had been reprocessed in France. As Germany lacks a permanent storage facility for radioactive waste, it is currently being stored in Gorleben, which critics say is not suitable.

After the government of Chancellor Merkel had first extended the life span of Germany’s nuclear reactors, it later had to revise its decision bowing to public pressure following the nuclear disaster at
Japan’s Fukushima plant. But the protests continue.

About 20.000 police officers guard the transport and there are continuing violent clashes as protesters try to block the tracks and sabotage the rails. As here in one of the many camps along the route thousands of protesters prepare actions to block the transport.

Even though the government has decided to phase-out nuclear energy, the anti-nuclear movement in Germany remains strong. Again tens of thousands of people have travelled to the Wendland to voice their opposition to nuclear energy. Every delay of the nuclear waste transport will be celebrated as a success here.